margeland.co.uk

Yes, it has finally happened - one of the chilli fruits has ripened into a lovely red colour! You may remember Retired Father planted out the chilli plants about a month or so ago (they were getting too big for the windowsills), and despite the torrential rain, changes in temperature, and strong winds, the chillis have not given up!

A fortnight ago I taste tested one of the green chillis and though it was quite hot it was not sweet, nor particularly flavoursome. I hoped they would ripen and the flavour would improve a with all the sunshine. However, when the weather starting changing I was not too hopeful of any fruits ripening and thought I would just leave them in the border for garden interest, but as you can see the chillis just didn’t have any truck with this and one plucky one has done its own thing!

Btw: I must stress how important it is to wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw chillis. I thought I had been carefull: removing the seeds and spines, and then washing my hands - only to touch my eyelid 2 hours later and the suffer the sheer zapping sting of the chilli

And don’t rinse your eye with water as I did because this just swirls and spreads the stingy stuff around the eye! Instead take a cotton wool ball dipped in milk and this should soothe the area).

No Comments »

An absolutely splendid dinner! Who can resist roast beef (OK..vegetarians, but apart from them…)? This is a simple assembly style dinner, that will really reward and impress both you and your dinner guests (unless they are vegetarians)! Remember always try and get the best quality ingredients you can afford - respect the roast!

Ingredients:

• Potato (about 1 large potato per person)
• 3 large carrots
• celery sticks (3-5 depending upon size)
• 1/2kg beef chunks
• 1 large onion
• oil to brown meat
• garlic clove
• 2 dried bay leaves
• fresh thyme, rosemary and lovage (last herb optional)
• ketchup/brown sauce
• seasoning

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to a high heat for at least 15 minutes.
2. In a frying pan seal the roast beef (either a stringed roll, fillet, or large thick slab style steak - get the butcher to prepare the raw meat to make things easy), having first seasoned it, and use tongs to turn the meat around (not chopsticks as drunken college friends once tried to do!) Then set the meat aside.
3. ** Remember the amount of meat and veg you cook will alter the cooking time. For a small roast dinner for 2-3 people you will need to cook this dish for about 90 minutes. A big roast will take nearer 2 hours. If in doubt - ask your butcher when you buy the meat!
4. Slice a large onion, and lightly fry it until it goes ‘clear’. Then place half the onion into a self basting roaster, or onto a deep sided ‘open’ roasting tray.
5. Place the meat on top of the roasting dish, and add the herbs and garlic.
6. Peel and cut potato into medium slices (a non-floury type, such as Desirée or even new potatoes, or any other you like). Place the potatoes around the meat in the roasting dish.
7. Slice up a couple of carrots and do the same again. (If you want you can add celery and parsnip too.. but this is optional). Add about 4 mugfuls of water.
8. Cook the meat for about 90 minutes or 2 hours (depending how much meat you are using). During this time you can either smartly lay the table and put on your best bib and tucker, or veg out watching sport on TV!
9. Serve with Ice beer or sparkling spring water, and a nice quality horseradish sauce if desired.
10. If there is any meat leftover then it will go superbly in a sandwich the next day.

No Comments »